Whatever it means to be a Head
Is certainly well represented here.
If you just think about half the crazy stuff going down both at home and abroad
This rises above it all,
transcends not even a strong enough word.
I don’t get out much now a days
But is any music band today
As tightly woven into the heartbeat
Of the times as the Grateful Dead
we’re in early 1969.
After blowing the doors off the place
Garcia ever the bridge builder
Reminding the audience
that Iron Butterfly is next.

Not as famous as the Fillmore West run from later in the month, the recording isn't as polished, and the cuts are inconvenient, but these early February shows are just as enjoyable for fans of the era! The Grateful Dead had just turned the corner from the January Avalon Ballroom shows, and were still carrying a lot of the late '68 sound with them. We only have this single tape of 2/5/69, and it doesn't even crack an hour, but it's a very well-balanced soundboard. As proven by some of these comments, this is the kind of show that turned interested first-time attendees into lifelong fans. They nail all of the jam vehicles and staples with crackling jams and hearty vocals, and then in Caution, Pig is looking to stretch his cheeky rap a little further, but the band just collapses and melts away behind him, tipping the cauldron into a spaced out, formlessly multi-dimensional chamber of lysergic instrumental feedback... only to somehow find their footing again to step through it all and close the set with We Bid You Goodnight!

Last time I checked Kansas City was in Missouri.

EDIT: I'd thought there was an audience tape of this show, but that turned out to be from 2/4/69 Omaha.

47 years later, some memories fade , but thankfully some remain crystal clear.
I went to this show.....I was 16.
Most of the audience was there to see Iron Butterfly (In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was BIG at the time!), so the Dead were the opening act - ha!
As you can hear here, they were terrific, and as it was my first Dead show I was totally impressed. Dark Star - whoa!

An exploding bullet of a show - everything just flies out of the cannon at full-speed here. The only thing you'll be disappointed by are the cuts in the board - one at the end of the Other One suite, and one pretty painful, ice-pick-under-the-toenail slice right out of the middle of Caution.

But this board will suffice until the gaps can be filled (and you'll be waiting a while, I think...)

Hardly a moment when someone isn't playing an incredibly hot lick.

they were just on a roll man...this isn't quite on the level of 2/7, 2/22, or 2/27-28 but still awesome. Interesting Dark Star, incendiary Eleven>Caution that i agree with direwolf600 must be a top ten version- might even be better than 10/20/68, and that's saying something (all imo).

be sure to listen to all the February '69 shows here on the IA. you really can't miss, and this whole Feb-Apr slice is probably the best music of the year.

High Quality. Tie everything down a storms a coming. This completes any questions about performance. Grateful Dead Forever, thanks for posting this timeless show!

I have just listened to this one end to end and it is one of the most beautiful shows I have ever heard. The opening is energetic, tough and gritty, the middle section DS>SS>11 is fluid, haunting and poetic and the closing Feedback>Bid You Goodnight brings a tranquil peace like a sunset after a raging storm. I am always amazed when reviewers seem to obsess over small details of the sound quality as this little gem is now over 40 years old. I am over fifty years old and I remember what the technology was like back then...and so I suggest you just relax, lay back and let the music play the band.

This venue sits near the mighty confluence of the Kansas and Missori rivers were the powerful energy of these two great rivers collide.Inhabited for at least 12,000 years by Paleo hunters who felled great Wolly Mammoths and Mega fauna it is a mystical place and this Dark Star played here will reverberate its energy for Ions up and down these valleys till the end of time along with the ancient spirits who inhabit this powerful place!

All the fuss ?
Cliff, there are 17 reviews including yours. You seem to be the only one not getting it. Look within.
This was a real fine show, too bad that it's hacked up, and missing segments, a major loss, but that does not diminish the playing, which was superb.

The Eleven/Caution suite is compelling, but I dont understand all the fuss here. The typical '69 sound quality/mix is muddy and lifeless. (94 pts)

This, along with the previous nights show from the Music Box in Omaha, are great companion pieces. Prime '69, differences in set list, and a club show vs. an auditorium. Check 'em both out! Second only to the very finest shows of the year as represented in the Fillmore West Box.

Crank up the BASS!

To have to play after this would not be fun for any band! The Dead display what I can only describe as that "peppery" sound they had from 68 to 69 and they are spicy indeed. Unfortunately the sound is a little muffled for this recording so I kicked off a star, but don't let sound imperfections dissuade you from checking out this excellent show. The playing and energy are wonderful especially The Eleven which is in my opinion one of the best versions they ever played. Rolling thunder!

Anyone who saw the Dead play in Omaha in 1969, did not see them on the fifth of February.
I was at the 05 February ’69 show and I can attest that it was indeed at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, KS (not Omaha), and the show was memorable. The Dead opened for the Iron Butterfly, and the contrast between the two bands was something to behold. “Caution” as hot as I have ever heard, and the band performed the astonishing “Seven” instrumental. “And we bid you Goodnight”, closing the show, was sublime.
The Bear did the sound, and I quote him:
“I remember the KC show very well, we had to help the Butterfly's
marginally competent roadies with setting up their gear. The IB fans
who filled the hall were in such a stare of shock after the opening
set by GD that it was nearly halfway through their beloved
Butterfly's set before they came round and starting jumping.”
The recording noted by the previous correspondent is apparently correct. At the close of “Goodnight”
Garcia can be heard to say “The Iron Butterfly will be out in a minute.”

As everyone else has mentioned, this is yet another fantastic time capsule. Yes, some annoying interruptions, but we've all heard worse, to be sure. Excellent quality. HOWEVER - DeadBase X lists this date as Omaha, Nebraska, with an entirely different setlist. Can anyone shed some light on that? Grateful thanks as always;

Ex

Sicko - ooozing 69 with a strong whiff of patchouli oil and cheap incense.

This isn't one of those 69 shows where every single song played counts as one of the best ever played. I'd agree with the note on the other one as something they are still warming up to as an improv vehicle. All the same, it still is nice and powerful. This show is all about the eleven>caution. The eleven here is one of the 10 best ever imo. At least top 15 if not top 10. When I hear someone saying the GD are pretty good but jerry didn't shred and peak, first I laugh, but I also understand how that opinion can exist. Of course we know different, chances are the person stating that as their opinion just hasn't been given the approriate versions of songs that highlight shredding jerry. Since the first time I heard this eleven it has become one of the song versions I give or play for people who say jerry couldn't shred like the big boys. Thus far it has not failed to change minds. It is just mother-f'ing SICK!!!

Sound: 7.5/10
Playing: 8.9/10
Show: 8.5/10

Nascent version of what would become "Live Dead" at the end of the month with DS>SS>The Eleven. I've read the story of how Iron Butterfly got blown off the stage when a relatively unknown Led Zeppelin opened for them in Jan. '69 and now this. The Eleven really grooves but then Caution commits interuptus (I suppose the reel change actually).

Wow.

definitely a new direction for the dead in this show. A good example of them concretely moving beyond the 1968 primal dead sound. Tremendous jerry all over this.

Is it possible to cram more amazing music onto a single CD? The only downside is the cut at the end of Cryptical.

On a scale of 1 to 5, I'd rate this show a 4 for sound quality and an 8 for performance.

Yes, indeed, they were VERY good this show. Listen to caution and here bobby (?) and pig screaming "AAAAAAALL YOU NEED" over and over and over. Very good show, very high energy, this is definitely a must!

they were so fuckin ON this show, it's a shame we had to miss even one second (an abrupt end to Cryptical that seemed to have more legs). The Eleven is a tour-de-force of Garcia inventiveness.

Techie-wise, it's a solid recording considering the era, but quite a ways from perfect.

i kinda like it when they go overboard and lose control. it's why we revere these ancient gems - for the slight flaw.

This is great. Blown away. They are coming. You can feel it all around. This makes my mental disorder worth it.

Excellent show, the jam from Eleven > Caution is quite tasty and unique. Caution is raunchy, dripping with feedback even before the "Feedback" section. Dark Star is quite good too, it's not quite the monster it became later in the month, but it's a solid improv vehicle at this point. It seems like they're still kinda warming up in the Other One. Not bad but not as ballsy as the remainder of the show.

we're not in Kansas anymore Toto."
"Yeah, but it's so flat. And check out all the tornados."
"Oh wow. There has to be at least...eleven..."